Tax Inversions a Major Driver in Cross-Border Deals

In 2010, a group of lawyers from New York and London took a bike trip through the rolling countryside of southern France, and helped set the wheels in motion on the hottest new trend in mergers and acquisitions.

Part holiday, part corporate off-site meeting, the peloton brought together top tax and merger lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Deal making was in the doldrums, but, in tandem, some of the lawyers...